A textbook caseThe flood of recent legislation and the growth of niche areas have given specialists a wealth of opportunities to write books on their subjects.

Nicola Laver looks at the things lawyers should know when putting pen to paperThe market for new legal textbooks is rapidly expanding in line with the growing number of niche practice areas, about which there is little or no published material.

This is giving practitioners and academics an opportunity to meet the demand, by writing new texts on their practice areas.Caroline Goldfinch, PR manager at publishers Butterworths , says: 'The huge amount of primary and secondary legislation that continues to be passed affects encyclopaedias and requires revised editions of existing textbooks.'Hot areas currently in demand include human rights, civil procedure, telecommunications, the Internet, e-commerce, the Finance Act and copyright.New textbooks on these subjects are required to meet the demands of an increasingly niche marketplace, and will keep legal publishers busy for years to come.For example, the general view is that there is a deficit of textbooks on intellectual property law.With the boom in e-commerce, existing books on IP can no longer fully address such areas as patents, copyright, and breach of confidentiality.Steve Reed, the head of publications at the Law Society, says: 'Any areas of major legislative change are always hot in publishing terms - solicitors obviously need to keep up to date with law and practice, and that will motivate them to buy books.

Recently, major areas have been the Human Rights Act and the Woolf reforms to civil practice.'There is a lot of publishing going on at the moment - there were dozens of new books out covering different angles on the Human Rights Act.

But in an area as dynamic as the law, there remains a need for current information, and we are always looking to fulfill that need.'Ground-breaking major works on some of these areas are already emerging hot from the press.Edward Phillips, a legal author and principal law lecturer at the University of Greenwich, maintains there are more subtle areas ripe for further publications including medical negligence and media law.

He says: 'There is a whole range of issues, control of the press, court reporting, contempt of court, freedom of expression and privacy, which need addressing.'In addition to these 'hot' practice areas, Mr Phillips would like to see publishers producing practitioner texts in conjunction with academics, to enable such texts to include aspects from both worlds.Solicitors, barristers and judges write books as well as academics, and the older publishing houses are adamant about the quality of their authors.

Mr Reed has firm ideas on what makes a good author.

They are: 'The ability to put across complex ideas in a readily accessible way; a clear and precise writing style; good cross-referencing and pointers to further information; mastery of the subject area; and the ability to stick to a writing schedule so that the book can be published quickly enough to be useful to our readers.'Julie Stott, marketing and communications manager at Sweet & Maxwell, says: 'Our authors are, in the majority, eminent in their field.

We are most renowned for our good author base and will use the leading names in their field.

We use more junior barristers and solicitors who are established in their areas for updating or contributing to texts.'Butterworths has a similar policy.

Ms Goldfinch says: 'We have always had the most senior, prominent and groundbreaking authors.' She adds that new authors are considered by Butterworths, but they would be expected to be practitioners or academics well-established in their field.

In addition, the majority of the publications of both these large legal publishers are commissioned, rather than the result of a proposal made by the author himself.So where does that leave the unpublished lawyer who has a book proposal and feels able to fill a hole in the marketplace?The policy of Blackstone Press - a much younger legal publishing house - is quite the reverse and rapidly expanding on the back of it.

Some 90% of its publications come from book proposals.

Marketing director Jeremy Stein says: 'We don't have time to commission books.'He says Blackstones looks for an author who communicates the subject in a user-friendly way, and adds: 'It doesn't matter about the author - it could be anyone, a practitioner or an academic.' What counts is 'the author's ability to put across the subject'.The average turnaround time for publication of a book is about 18 months to two years whoever the publisher, although some books can be turned around in a matter of weeks if urgent.Butterworths, though, is still awaiting the first manuscript of a book commissioned 14 years ago.

Large publications, such as loose-leaf volumes, usually have dedicated teams of in-house editors.Authors of academic legal textbooks are generally left to their own devices once a book has been commissioned.

Few legal authors, because of the nature of their day jobs, have the luxury of time to work on their books.

Juggling and organisation is crucial, as is a strong sense of discipline.Mr Phillips has a full-time teaching timetable, an administrative workload, provides careers advice and organises moots.

He is currently working on his second book.

His first publication, Evidence, was published by Cavendish Publishing.

He maintains that a lecturer is in a prime position to write books.'Balancing work is very difficult,' he says.

'It's only if you work in one of the old universities and you're at professor level do you get "time off" to write.

Most evenings are spent writing.'Mark Pawlowski, a barrister, is also a lecturer at the University of Greenwich and had his first book, Forfeiture of Leases, published in 1993 by Sweet & Maxwell.

Currently working on a new book, he says: 'Writing requires an awful lot of discipline.

You need chunks of time out and you need two or three days to lock yourself away, otherwise you lose the thread.' He adds: 'It's easy to lose interest if you're not disciplined.

People don't realise just what an undertaking it is to write a book.'He adds that it was a natural progression for him to write a book.

He practised law in that field, saw a gap in the market and successfully made a book proposal.

Although he has the benefit of a property team at the university and only has five hours teaching a week, he says, 'You have to try to ensure your writing takes priority'.Some practitioners find more time to write than others.

Stephen Grosz, a partner at Bindman and Partners, had the luxury of two months off to co-write Human Rights: the 1998 Act and the European Convention, published by Sweet & Maxwell, although it took a total of 18 months to write.

He anticipates an explosion of case law in this area, which will lead to new editions.The balancing act was keenly felt by Ian Greenstreet, partner at Hammond Suddards Edge, and author of Stakeholder Pensions, scheduled to be published by Sweet & Maxwell in March.

He had already demonstrated his expertise by the articles and talks he gave on the subject.

He took advantage of a break between jobs and spent five weeks at home.During this time, he says: 'I wrote 24 chapters, and it also enabled me to take my daughters to school and nursery, go to the gym and see a lot more of my family.' However, he adds: 'The remaining 10 chapters were much harder to write as I had to balance writing the book with my new job.

So a lot of the work was done in the evenings and at weekends.'He says a major problem with writing a textbook is 'legislative slippage', and he acknowledges that at the time of publication there will be some minimal legislative change that will not be covered by the book.Mr Phillips advises authors: 'Take care who you approach to publish your book.

Research the market, and make sure you have a realistic proposal in terms of coverage and pricing.

Practitioners don't want dry academic books, they want practical stuff.' He tells writers to send the publisher a good sample chapter - not chapter one.The key is to find a gap in market and propose a marketable product.

Mr Phillips adds: 'You have to convince the publisher that it'll make them money.' Clearly, the legal publishing market has developed into a highly competitive marketplace.

For his part, Steve Reed maintains that Law Society publishing retains an edge.

'Our added value is our brand name.

People tend to look at material coming from the Law Society just in case it's real "need-to-know" information.'Second, there is our knowledge of the market.

Because of the membership database, we know where every solicitor is, what their specialisms are, what kind of firm they work for.

That allows us to target our direct marketing right to the people who need the books we publish.'Perhaps more lawyers will now be requesting extended leave from their employers to concentrate on a writing career - the market is awaiting a new generation of legal writers.Nicola Laver is a freelance journalist